Thank you for buying this record. What follows is its documentation: the pressing identified, the matrix / runout transcribed by hand from the dead wax, and the condition as assessed before it was listed. It is yours to keep with the record.

— Paul, Vinyl Curator

Jimmy Smith

Groovin' at Smalls' Paradise, Volume 1

1958 · Blue Note BLP 1585 · Mono · US · LP · 33 1/3 RPM

Pressing details

Label	Blue Note
Catalogue number	BLP 1585
Year	1958
Mono / Stereo	Mono
Country	US
Format	LP
Speed	33 1/3 RPM
Genre	Jazz - Soul Jazz/Hard Bop (live organ trio)
Producer	Alfred Lion
Musicians	Jimmy Smith (organ), Eddie McFadden (guitar), Donald Bailey (drums)

Matrix / Runout

Side A:  BN-LP-1585-A EAR RVG
Side B:  BN-LP-1585-B EAR RVG 1

Condition

Cover: VG+
Vinyl: VG+

Variant chronology

1958 - deep groove, W. 63rd St. address, RVG + Plastylite ear in runout  <- this copy
1966-67 - reissue with original NY metal, plain/Liberty-era label - No documented sale found for this variant
2020s - Blue Note 80/audiophile reissue (Kevin Gray, Optimal pressing) - No documented sale found for this variant

This Pressing

1958 mono first pressing - Blue Note NY deep-groove label with W. 63rd St. address; RVG and Plastylite ear stamps etched in the runout of both sides.

The Album

Recorded live at Smalls' Paradise in Harlem on November 15, 1957 and issued by Blue Note the following year, this LP (paired with a companion Volume 2 from the same night) captures Jimmy Smith's working trio with guitarist Eddie McFadden and drummer Donald Bailey in the club setting where Smith had first stunned New York audiences less than two years earlier. The performance was later expanded into a double-CD reissue with four additional bonus tracks drawn from the same night's tapes. Blue Note co-founder Francis Wolff, recalling that first 1956 gig at the same club, described Smith as

Tracklist

Side 1

1. After Hours (Avery Parrish)
2. My Funny Valentine (Rodgers-Hart)

Side 2

1. Slightly Monkish (Jimmy Smith)
2. Laura (Raksin)

The Label

The side labels show the classic Blue Note deep-groove design: white top field with blue "33 1/3 MICROGROOVE LONG PLAYING" arc text and "BLUE NOTE RECORDS INC." credit, a solid blue lower band reading "BLUE NOTE," with deep groove present on both sides. Side 2 shows the "47 WEST 63rd NYC" street address that Blue Note began adding to its New York labels in this era, while Side 1's visible text reads only "NEW YORK USA," a print variation rather than a true design difference, since both sides share the same typography and layout. This address places the pressing squarely in the 1958 first-issue window, before Blue Note's move away from the West 63rd Street offices and well before the later Liberty-era reissues that reused original metal on plain or Keystone-printed labels. Combined with the deep groove and the RVG/Plastylite ear etching in the runout, this is consistent with an original 1958 Blue Note pressing rather than a 1960s repress.

Fidelity

Cut and recorded by Rudy Van Gelder directly to lacquer, with the Plastylite "ear" confirming original Plastylite-pressed vinyl from the master lacquers rather than a later repress from transferred metal. Collectors on the forums generally regard these late-1950s Van Gelder mono originals as the most vivid and immediate-sounding versions of this material, ahead of 1960s Liberty-era repressings and the later CD reissues. Modern audiophile vinyl (e.g., the Blue Note 80/Kevin Gray all-analog reissue) offers cleaner surfaces and quieter pressing but works from tape generations once removed from this lacquer-era cut, so among vinyl this original deep-groove pressing sits at or near the top of the fidelity hierarchy for surface noise notwithstanding.

Notes

This is a 1958 Blue Note BLP 1585 mono pressing with deep-groove labels and the West 63rd Street NYC address, consistent with an original first-issue window before the label's later 1960s Liberty-era repressings. The runout carries BN-LP-1585-A/B with the EAR and RVG etching on both sides, the standard first-pressing etching for this release. Deep groove on both sides further supports an original rather than a later flat-edge repress.

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